One of the biggest problems with the Big 3 American automakers is that they have to deal with the UAW, and their managements have consistently given in to ridiculous union demands. Union rules require that more workers than needed be used on assembly lines, based on the number of workers used by Toyota and others automakers in the US. Then, workers at GM get paid 50 to 100% more than what workers in comparable jobs earn, and on top of that GM pays large numbers of employees at closed plants to show up and do nothing at all. Here is a discussion of this. Can the government save the Big 3without changing their employment practices?

http://mises.org/story/2124